Family in fully occupied house hit by bedroom tax

A family have been told they must pay the bedroom tax as the council say they are under occupying their house. However, they say they are not and all their rooms are occupied.'Andrew Offord and Nadine Pryke.

A family say they are being asked to pay the controversial ‘bedroom tax’ - despite living with four children in a three bedroom house.

Andrew Offord, 37, and his partner Nadine Pryke, 29, say they are to lose out on £12.47 a week after being told by Mid Suffolk District Council they are ‘underoccupying’ their Finningham home.

However, they have four children, aged five to 15, living in the house with three sleeping in a double bedroom and the eldest in a single while she studies for her exams.

Meanwhile, the couple use the other single room at the Westhorpe Road property.

All the children live with them full time.

The bedroom tax is essentially a cut to the amount of benefit people receive if they have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home.

Mr Offord said: “I understand they’ve got to cut back a bit on the spending and if we were genuinely underoccupying I would have no problem. I can’t see when we’ve provided them with every valid piece of information they’ve requested why they can’t see we’re not underoccupying our property.

“It’s a nice house but the rooms aren’t massive so we’re fairly cramped. It’s a case of use trying to make the best of a difficult situation and we’re not being helped by those who are supposed to help us.”

A spokesman for Mid Suffolk District Council said the case is subject to an ‘ongoing review’.